Sunday, October 11, 2015

bowl concert-palooza: show #3 - van halen

Last weekend I spent three of four nights (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at my now most-attended EVER concert venue, the historic Hollywood Bowl. 

Before and after the shows, I battled traffic, herds (yes, herds.. as in "mooo, mooove out of my way people!"), food and beverage lines so long I nearly starved one night (thanks for the organic strawberries Matt ;), and the elements of both rain and pot smoking 50 and 60-year-olds determined to relive their '80s youth via the return of "Diamond Dave." 

But between all that, I saw three awesome, completely different musical extravaganzas that pretty much sum of the range of my musical library :) 

Here's the scoop on Show #3:

October 4, 2015 -- Van Halen - Final Night of North American Tour

So I've loved Van Halen since about 1984 (the year and the album). But was too young to see them in concert then. 

By the time I was (in 1992 and again in 1995), David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen hated each other, and "Diamond Dave" had been replaced by Sammy Hagar singing songs with lots of synthesizers like "Dreams" and "Right Now," which I also loved. (I play no favorites between Sammy and Dave.. they were two very different singers and Van Halen is two very different, yet both great, bands depending on who is singing lead. Please note: I do however agree that the whole Gary Cherone era was a joke, even though I loved him in Extreme.)

I've always regretted not getting to see the band with the showman antics of DLR. When they last got together a few years ago, the tour was cancelled almost as soon as it started. (There were rumors of fighting, but also Eddie's health took a bad turn.) So earlier this year when they went on Jimmy Kimmel and announced they were back together again (again) and were going on tour (again), I was not optimistic. I didn't buy tickets to their two shows at the Bowl when they went on sale in March because, quite honestly, I was pretty sure the tour would be cancelled waaaaaay before October. 

However, as summer went on and they hadn't broken up yet, I started to wish I had tickets. Then one day I got (of all things) a Groupon offer for Van Halen tickets... for $35! Um, sign me up! I was even more excited when my seats that were supposed to be at the top of Bowl in section U, ended up in the middle of the Bowl in section L2. Thank you Groupon Rock Gods!

However, as the day of the show rolled around, so did these magnificent rain clouds....

And as the opening act (the amazingly awesome blues rocker Kenny Wayne Shepherd) played, a few tiny rain drops started falling on our heads.... please don't rain on my Van Halen concert I begged through social media hashtags and silent pleas to the weather gods. Miraculously, they all listened, and the sprinkles stopped and the show went on, allowing me to check "Van Halen with David Lee Roth" off of my Concert Bucket List!

The band (Eddie, Alex + Eddie's son / my fellow Kings fan Wolfgang Van Halen) sounded awesome and tight, as one of the most excellent rock guitarists and rock drummers who've been playing together for 40+ years (plus the son / nephew who got their musical genes) should.

Then there was David Lee Roth. When the crew was setting up after Kenny Wayne Shepherd, they were laying a lot of wood planks down on the stage. "What's that for?" I wondered. Well people, Diamond Dave (or "The Dean Martin of Rock-n-Roll" as my concert buddy Lisa dubbed him halfway through the show) needed a dance floor so he could slide around and "dance the night away"... in between changing his outfit about 20 times. ;) He was the true showman everyone paid to see, and even managed to replicate his high kicks from the "Panama" and "Jump" videos, at the mere age of 60! As for singing, well, let's just say he doesn't have the pipes that the previous singers on my Bowl "concert-palooza" (Simon Le Bon and Idina Menzel) have, but he probably never did, and when Eddie Van Halen is playing guitar, do you really care?



(Note: These videos aren't mine. Like at Duran Duran, I only had my camera phone. So instead of torturing you with bad video, I've found videos on YouTube from people with much better cameras and/or seats. Thanks to these people for uploading :)


Here's the set list, and then video (again, not mine) of the last three, most fun songs of the show. Enjoy! Being as this was the last show of the tour, these just may be the last songs Van Halen (with David Lee Roth) ever perform live :(





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